Portland. Ia.

I am completely fascinated by this little phenomenon wherein our little family does something that we think is the best thing EVER and another family can do the same thing and just hate it. In this case, it was Portland. We had the most fun 48 hours in Portland - a total joyride of a weekend - that had us all yearning to go back again. And then we found out that some friends had stayed there earlier in the summer (in the same hotel even) and had a miserable time - they thought it was dirty, ugly, spooky, etc. Huh. I am completely mystified. What's not to love about Portland?

Our weekend of delight started with the train ride down to Portland and the four hours went by in a flash. We enjoyed a tasty lunch in the dining car and then spent a little bit of time in the observation car listening to the National Parks Service volunteers telling us about local history, wildlife, and scenery.

When we got in the cab to go to the hotel, our cab driver happened to mention that Portlandia was filming in a funky little neighborhood northwest of us. Jackpot!!!! We put our stuff down and then headed straight for said neighborhood. We got to see a little bit of filming, plus we enjoyed other local quirks: A nursery/plant store with chickens walking around, a light bulb store with an extensive Lego display in the window, a restaurant devoted solely to mac & cheese, a warehouse with reclaimed building fixtures, and an ice creamery featuring beet/mascarpone ice cream.

Our hotel was also a total delight - even though it was operated by a "chain," it had a wonderful old-time glamour to it. The nightly manager's reception, game room, funky pool, and full-on breakfast were nice touches. The boys swore they never wanted to stay in any other hotel besides this one. Saturday Dave had one item on his agenda - to get to the University of Oregon store. While he and Luke stocked up on green- and O-themed merchandise, Zach and I went to hold a place in the hour-long line for donuts at Voodoo Donuts. Was it worth it? Oh yes. Yes, it was.

Our next stop brought us to the Aerial Tram, which was surprisingly non-scary. It was just a smooth, easy ride to the top and spectacular views.

Then we headed back to the other side of town (all of this is happening on the Metro, of course) to visit the Peculiarium, a museum of weird and ghastly stuff. On the way we were starving so we walked into house-turned-coffee-shop that was furnished with a Dorm Room Circa Late 1990s theme, and ate some enormous sandwiches. Once we got to the Peculiarium, Luke was entirely too freaked out by it, but fortunately there was an old-timey street festival happening just down the block so we spent our time there getting our neighborhood fix.

Blammo! Right in the old-timey dunk tank

That night for dinner we headed to a pizza place in an old hotel that is described as Portland's most haunted place. Given Luke's reaction to the Peculiarium, we didn't bother to tell him about the ghost until after we left. But while the four of us enjoyed pizza in an eerie, dimly-lit corner, Dave and I kept exchanging nervous glances.

Ghostly pizza place

Then, with a full box of leftover pizza in hand, we walked down the dark streets to the waterfront, where large communities of homeless people were congregating. Dave conspicuously placed the pizza box on a bench, made a universal sign of peace in the direction of the homeless people, and walked away. A woman sprinted over to grab the box and within less than a minute there was a little pizza party going on. Quirky? Absolutely. Dirty? Meh. Scary? Not at all. I'm pretty sure we'd all be a lot happier if there were a little more Portland in our lives.